Big Oil Lied.
People Died.
Court Rejects Fossil Fuel Defendants’ First Round of Motions to Dismiss
After three and a half years of litigation, Multnomah County’s landmark climate accountability lawsuit has cleared another major hurdle. In a November 2, 2026 order, Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Adele J. Ridenour rejected the fossil fuel defendants’ first round of efforts to dismiss the County’s case, allowing the lawsuit to proceed against nearly all of the defendants.
He sued the oil industry for $51B. Now he faces Republicans in a private grilling.
A champion among environmental activists and a villain to the Trump administration and congressional Republicans, the ambitious attorney’s latest gambit — representing Multnomah County, Oregon, in a $51 billion lawsuit that accuses the oil and gas industry of contributing to a heat wave that killed 69 people in 2021 — has landed him in the hot seat before the House Judiciary Committee.
Officials to Senate: Reject Fossil Fuel Immunity Bill
Attorneys and public officials from states, cities, counties, and tribal governments with climate accountability cases pending against fossil fuel companies are calling on U.S. Senate leaders to reject legislation that would hand the industry sweeping immunity from accountability.